Water saving flush tank



Oct. 15, 1957 D. NEWTON, JR

WATER SAVING FLUSH TANK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 27, 1956 INVENTOR. DUDLEY NEWTON, JR. BY

4mg MW ATTORNEYS Oct. 15, 1957 D. NEWTON, JR 2,809,378

WATER SAVING FLUSH TANK Filed April 27, 1956 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Y DUDLEY NEWTON, JR.

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A T TORNEKS nited rates atet 2,809,378 Patented Oct. 15, 1957 hail WATER SAVING FLUSH TANK Dudley Newton, in, Fair Oaks, Califi, assignor of onehaif to Alfred .i. Devalle, Sacramento, Calif.

Application April 27, 1956, Serial No. 581,234

3 Claims. (Cl. 467) The invention relates primarily to valves especially useful in connection with water closet tanks, and having the ability not only to produce a normal flushing action from such tank, but also to permit interruption in mid-cycle or at any point in the cycle of the usual flushing operation. This is for the purpose, not only of saving water, but also of reducing the period of operation of the flushing mechanism.

It is an object of my invention to provide a water saving valve which is efiective to interrupt, as desired, the normal flushing cycle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a water saving valve which can be installed as an attachment to a standard flushing mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide a water saving valve which readily can be installed in the normal closet tank.

Another object of the invention is in general, to provide an improved water saving valve.

Other objects, together with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiment of the invention described in the accompanying description, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a perspective of a water saving valve constructed in accordance with my invention and installed in the normal closet tank, portions of the tank structure and attendant standard parts being broken away to simplify the disclosure.

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross section through the tank wall adjacent the handle structure.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic showing of the water saving valve of the invention, with the parts in the position for a normal flushing operation.

Figure 4 is a view comparable to Figure 3 but showing the parts in an intermediate location.

Figure 5 is a view comparable to Figure 3 but showing the parts in position with the buoyant valve seated manually by means of the structure of the invention.

While the water saving valve of the invention can readily be incorporated in a number of different ways, it has successfully been incorporated for use in the indicated environment, as shown herein. In this installation there is provided the customary closet tank 6, having an upstanding flout wall 7 and a side wall 8, and likewise being formed with an outlet fitting 9 in the bottom thereof. Somewhat in accordance with standard practice, the outlet fitting 9 is extended to support a stand pipe 11, to which an adjustable bracket 12 is clamped. The end of the bracket is provided with a pair of spaced guides 13 and 14, which are pierced to receive slidably a stem 16. The stem conveniently is fabricated of wire and at its lower end is fastened as by threading into the upper end of a buoyant valve 17.

The valve 17 is customarily substantially hemispherical on the bottom and conical on the top, and is designed with a hole (not shown) in its bottom, so that it entraps air. The hemispherical bottom of the buoyant valve is engageable with the outlet fitting 9, and when seated thereon serves as an effective outlet seal. When the valve is lifted from the fitting 9, Water in the tank 6 can pass out the outlet fitting 9. The wire stem 16 at its upper end is provided with a stop or head 18, in the form of a loop. Appropriately to actuate the buoyant valve 17 the tank 6 is provided in its forward wall 7 with a through actuating shaft 21 suitably mounted in a journal 22 for rotation by means of an actuating handle 23 conveniently positioned on the outside of the front wall 7. The handle is fastened to the shaft in any customary way so that the two operate in unison.

Also mounted on the shaft 21 is a crank arm 24 conveniently fabricated as a strap which is securely mounted for rotation with the shaft 21 by a securing lug 26, so that all movements of the shaft 21 are imparted to the crank arm 24. Adjacent its free end the arm 24 is provided with a number of apertures 27, 28 and 29, through a selected one of which there is pivotally fastened a link 31. The upper end of the link, preferably wire, is passed through the aperture 28, for example, and is bent around as at 32 for adequate security. The lower end of the link 31 is bent and is formed into a circular loop 33 which loosely encompasses the stem 16 and is slidable thereon, being however of a small enough size so that it cannot pass but rather abuts the loop 18.

In the operation of the structure, as so far described, depression of the handle 23 rotates the shaft 21, and through the securing lug 26 causes the crank arm 24 to lift. The link 31 is correspondingly lifted until such time as the loop 33 engages the head 18. Further lifting movement of the lever arm 24 then causes the buoyant valve 17 itself to lift substantially into the position shown in Figure l, for example. The handle 23 is subsequently released and the weight of the crank arm 24 permits the loop 33 to slide down the stem 17 until abutment with the member 13 is had. When substantially all of the water has discharged from the tank through the outlet 9, the buoyant valve 17, floating on the surface of the water, eventually seats again on the outlet 9 ready for a subsequent operation. This is the standard flushing cycle.

In accordance with the invention, the shaft 21 is made sufficiently long so that it receives freely journalled thereon a mounting plate 36 which is fast on a lever 37, the connection between the mounting plate 36 and the shaft 21 being adapted for free relative rotation. The lever 37 at one end is terminated in a lever loop 38, through which a pivot pin 39 is passed. This pin, likewise, is fastened to a pair of parallel straps 41 and 42. At the lower end these straps are connected by a pivot pin 43 which also passes through the loop 13 on the stem 16. Since the buoyant valve 17 is relatively well calibrated with respect to its buoyancy and its seating effect, the weight of the extra straps 41 and 42 and of the lever 37 is largely counterbalanced by an extension of the lever 37 on the other side of the shaft 21, the extension terminating in an eye 44. A counterweight 46 fastened in position by a bent Wire 47 serves substantially to equalize the efiect of the lever and strap weight.

In order to afford the desired kind of connection between the shaft 21 and the lever 37, the shaft 21 is provided with a driving lug 48, which is fashioned with a clamp screw 49 so that the lug is firmly fixed to move or rotate with the shaft 21. The contour of the lug is such that for part of its rotation it is free of the fastening plate 36, but for another part of its rotation it abuts the fastening plate. Thus, when the lever handle 23 is moved downwardly, the driving lug 48 is rotated clockwise, as seen in Figure l, and does not abut the plate 36, and so has no effect upon the lever 37. On the other hand, when the handle 23 is lifted from its position, as shown in Figure 1, then the driving lug 48 is rotated into abutment with the plate 36 in a counter-clockwise direction, and the left-hand 3 end of the lever 37 is depressed. The links 41 and 42, being likewise depressed and being rigid, also forcibly depress the stem 16 and cause the buoyant valve 17 to seat on the outlet 9.

"Withthis mechanism, when the handle 23 is depressed or moved clockwise in Figure l, the driving lug 48, having a lost motion connection; is ineffective to lift the buoyant valve 17. If, however, the handle 23'is lifted rather than depressed, 'then the lost motion connection between the loop 33 and the stem 16 renders the crank arm 24 ineffective'upon the buoyant valve'17, yet the'lost motion connection between the driving lug 48 and the plate 36 is taken up, and the user then positively depresses and closes the'buoyant valve17. During thistime the counterweight 46 is effective to permit the valve 17 to go through its normal motion with substantially the normal forces imposed upon it, so that the addition of the lever 37 does not adversely or substantially affect the operation of the buoyant valve. Consequently, this mechanism for positively closing the buoyant valve can be added'to the usual structure without affecting adversely its operation, yet gives the additional ability to stop the flushing cycle at any desired point by forcibly seating the buoyant valve '17.

What is claimed is:

l. A'water 'savingfiush tank comprising a tank having an outlet, a buoyant valve movable in said tank toward and away from said outlet, an actuating shaft journalled in said tank, a handle on said shaft, a crank arm rotatable with said shaft, a'lost-motion connection between said crank arm and said buoyant valve, a lever journalled on said shaft, a strap connection between one end of said i lever and said buoyant valve, a counterweight on the other end of said lever, and a second lost-motion driving connection between said shaft and said lever.

4 2. A water saving flush tank comprising a tank having an outlet, a buoyant valve movable in said tank toward and away from said outlet, a stem upstanding from said valve and having a head thereon, an actuating shaft journalled in said tank, a handle on said shaft, a crank arm rotatable with said shaft, a link pivoted in said crank arm, a loop on said link slidable on said stem into abutment with said head, a lever journalled on said, shaft, a strap pivoted to said lever at one end thereof and pivoted to said head, a counterweight at the other end of said lever, and a driving lug fast on said shaft and rotatable therewith into driving abutment with 'said lever.

3. A water saving flush tank comprising a taukhaving an outlet, a buoyant valve movable in said tank toward and away from said outlet, a stem upstanding from said valve and having a loop head thereon, an actuating shaft journalled in said tank, a handle on said shaft, a crank arm rotatable with said shaft, a link pivoted in said crank arm, atloop on said link slidable on said stem into abut:

ment with'said head, a lever-journalled on said shaft, a

lever loop at one end of (said lever, a pair of straps pivoted to said leverlo op and to said-loop head, a counterweight on the'other end of said lever, and a driving lug fast on-said shaft and rotatable therewith into driving abutment with said lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

